GRAND FORKS, N.D. – A second straight hitting performance over .300 help propel South Dakota to a 25-18, 25-10, 25-19 Summit League volleyball sweep over North Dakota on Monday afternoon in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
The Coyotes, who hit .327 in the sweep over the Fighting Hawks on Sunday, would hit .301 in the match on Sunday with 50 kills on 113 attempts.
"We are glad to be coming home with two wins," coach
Leanne Williamson said. "We didn't play our best overall, but we are coming back with a lot of things that we can work on this week in practice.
"I felt like we were in control of the game, but we did not always play to our capability."
Elizabeth Juhnke provided 18 kills, 13 digs and three solo blocks in the contest as South Dakota moves to 2-0 in Summit League play and 3-3 overall.
Sami Slaughter had nine kills for the second straight match, a total matched by
Madison Harms while
Aimee Adams had eight kills and
Maddie Wiedenfeld five.
Madison Jurgens contributed 42 assist, three service aces and nine digs to the victory while libero
Lolo Weideman had 17 digs.
South Dakota pulled away in set one after it was tied 1t 14-14 with a four-point scoring run while the set ended on kills from Slaughter and Harms.
Weideman had the hot hand from the service line in set two with a five-point scoring run early and a six-point spurt late that allowed the Coyotes to turn a 16-16 tie into a 23-16 lead that eventually led to a 25-20 win.
Juhnke had nine of her 18 kills in the second set, a set that saw South Dakota hit .361 with 18 kills and only five errors.
The Coyotes jumped out 7-1 to open the third set only to see North Dakota battle back to cut the lead to 7-6. The set was also tied again at 17-17 before South Dakota closed out the match on a kill from Wiedenfeld.
"This year will be a lot about learning in both good and bad situations," Williamson added. "We need to make sure that our tea is using these moments to get better as a program.
"We hit for a high percentage overall, but as a team we know that it could have been a lot higher."
South Dakota will play its Summit League home openers on Sunday (4 p.m.) and Monday (7 p.m.) against Omaha inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
"We are very excited to be coming back to the SCSC to play in front of our fans next weekend!" Williamson said.
